Covid Racing in the Pacific Northwest

Covid 19 has taught, or rather reminded, us about how vital sailing and racing are and how to make it happen without all the trappings normally deemed necessary. Of course, generally speaking the events are not considered racing, because that implies someone’s on the hook if anything goes wrong. Call them practices, or sailing in company. But as anyone knows, it’s fun to make your boat go faster than the other boat.

It would be hard to find a better sport for the Covid 19 world we’re living in. We’re outdoors (unless you’re spending too much time in the cabin with others!) in the fresh air where transmission of the disease, even without masks, seems to be very unlikely. We’re not putting the public at risk. We’re getting exercise and enjoying the outdoors. Early on there was some appropriate consideration of putting emergency response professionals at risk if they’re needed to help. But if there are several boats sailing, and we look out for each other, that possibility is minimized.

In a bit of a “back to where we started” grass roots movement, Pacific Northwest sailors have found a way to get on the water however possible. I think there’s something to be learned in all this – basically a reminder about how we the sailors can control our sport’s trajectory.

The Canadians have held several events already, including the West Vancouver YC & Royal Naval Sailing Association Race, which we covered here on Sailish.com. In Victoria, BC there have been several practices, thoroughly photographed by Andrew Madding, who posts on Facebook.

On the singlehanded dinghy scene, which is close to my heart, the Seattle Laser and Aero fleets and Corinthian Yacht Club have put on several weeks of practices off Shilshole Bay Marina. Jared Hickman has used a CYC Whaler and done superb job of setting marks and keeping the 20 RS Aeros and 15 or so Lasers getting in lots of practice. The RS Aero fleet is truly remarkable, with a who’s who of racing out there including Olympic champions, college sailors of the year, world champions, national champions and a lot of sailors drawn to the boat’s performance.

The Laser fleet mostly consists of young (!!) sailors in Radial rigs. Without the other organized events such as soccer and Ultimate Frisbee, sailing is a great option. Hopefully they will see it as a great option moving forward. John Beaver’s four kids are all sailing Lasers and he’s done a great job in photographing these events. If you wonder if singlehanded sailing is alive and well, check out these photos.

Even while the virus continues to grow, sailing is getting back in gear. This past weekend Jason Andrews and the Hamachi team organized the Salish 200 series of events, which sent appropriately undercrewed boats around some of the islands we have in abundance. Several notable boats made the trip, and even though (or because!?) crews were limited to 5 on each boat, there was an exceptional amount of interest. Hopefully we can share a race report.

And Seattle Yacht Club is proceeding with it’s Snooze and Cruise event from Seattle to Port Madison. My colleague Ryan finally got to take his new boat Coho across a start line! His infant Ernie did the tactics on this liveaboard boat. Kids racing with their parents – that’s how many of us, including me, started.

CYC Seattle is starting up its weeknight racing next week on Puget Sound and Lake Washington. And Sail Sand Point is opening in a limited way. Basically, rising infections or no, things are opening up. And certain evidence it pointing to outdoor activities, and sailing is an inherently socially distant activity, does little to spread the virus.

One of the most important things I see in all this is that idea that we need clubhouses, professional PROs and teams, beer tents, swag, and awards ceremonies to make sailing appealing is just plain wrong. Sailing and racing is attractive in and of itself. That other stuff is great, but first and foremost sailing is great, and that’s something that we should all remember even when the Covid crisis is over. Sponsorship might be hard to come by for a while, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop doing what we love. When I hear we need so many thousands of dollars to put a race on, well, that ain’t true. You need two boats and gumption. Guess what, there are a lot more than two boats out there and plenty of gumption.

I’d love to help get everybody out there. If you have a series or event you’d like me to promote, just email me.

Sail on.

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